Sign structure having demountable privilege panel



Nov. 9, 1954 c. L. DWINELL SIGN STRUCTURE HAVING DEMOUNTABLE PRIVILEGE PANEL Filed July 28, 1952 fl w R Wm i M r 6 V0 N I L. 5 Q I 0 W 2 United States Patent fitice 2,693,657 Patented Nov. 9, 1954 SIGN STRUCTURE HAVING DEMOUNTABLE PRIVILEGE PANEL Charles L. Dwinell, Kansas City, Mo.

Application July 28, 1952, Serial No. 301,333

1 Claim. (Cl. 40--132) This invention relates to sign structure of the type having a hollow, transparent or translucent body adapted to receive illuminating means therewithin for in turn illuminating a sign printed or otherwise applied to the body itself, the primary object being to improve upon the sign structure forming the subject matter of my copending application, Serial No. 86,756, filed April 11, 1949, entitled Illuminable Sign Having Removable Lamp and Socket Units, now Patent No. 2,620,580.

It is the most important object of this invention to provide a sign of the kind set forth in my co-pending application above identified that includes a hollow body that is open at its bottom for passage of rays of light from within the illuminating means in the body to a secondary hollow, translucent body attached to the main body in depending relationship thereto, closing the open bottom and having a sign thereon adapted primarily to attact attention to the main message on the primary b y.

Another object hereof is to provide a secondary body of the aforementioned kind having a pair of elongated, opposed side walls that converge as the lowermost end of the sign structure is approached, whereby the wording or other inscription on the secondary body can be easily seen from below by pedestrians as they walk beneath the sign structure.

A further object hereof is to provide novel means for attaching the secondary body to the primary sign and including channel structure on the primary body and complementary flange means on the secondary sign slidably received by the channel structure.

Other objects include important details of construction, all of which will be made clear or become apparent as the following specification progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of sign structure having demountable privilege panel made pursuant to the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, detailed, cross-sectional view taken on line IIII of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, detailed, cross-sectional View taken on line IIII1I of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 2 illustrating a slightly modified form of the invention.

The sign structure forming the subject matter of this invention includes a primary body broadly designated by the numeral 10, and a secondary body 12 depending from the body and attached thereto. Bodies 10 and 12 are both hollow and elongated. It is to be preferred that the material forming essentially all of the parts of both bodies 10 and 12 be made from translucent or partially transparent material if desired, and, to this end, there are many suitable synthetic plastics available on the open market for the purpose.

A pair of spaced, parallel, polygonal frames 14 within the body 10, support the various sections of the latter and these two frames 14-14 are interconnected by a plurality of cross-members 16. Cross-members 16 may be U-shaped in cross-section as shown in Fig. 3 and are Well adapted to receive sockets 18 for an elongated, cold lamp 20 or other similar illuminating means for the bodies 10 and 12. The bottom of the body 10 is open throughout substantially the entire length thereof and therefore, in register with the secondary body 12 so that a single illuminating means 20 is adapted for illuminating printing or other indicia 22 on the side walls of the secondary body 12. These side walls 24 and 26 converge transversely as the lowermost ends thereof are approached and are joined by a substantially semi-circular bottom wall 28 forming a part of the secondary body 12.

A pair of end Walls 30, perforated as at 32 for drainage of any condensate formation that may accumulate in the body 12, and a continuous out-turned flange 34 at the uppermost end of the body 12, complete the component parts of the latter.

It is noted that the main body 10 is provided with a pair of opposed, in-turned flanges 36 at the lowermost end thereof underlying the frames 1414, and a pair of elongated, opposed channel members 38 are secured to the flanges 36 for slidably receiving the flange 34 of the body 12. The ends of the main body 10 at the lowermost corners thereof, are closed by arcuate sections 40 secured to the body 10 by a plurality of screws 42 and to the flange 34 at the ends of body 12' by screws 44. As shown in Fig. 3 of the drawing, the end sections 40 underlie the flange 34 at the ends of the body 12 and thereby cooperate with the channels 38 in rigidly holding the body 12 secured to the body 10. Upon removal of the screws 44 and by removal of one of the end sections 40 through manipulation of screws 42 thereof, the secondary body 12 can be entirely removed by shifting the same longitudinally within the channels 34 in one direction.

If desired, the body 10 may be separated from the body 12 by a transparent, polygonal panel 46 of glass or other transparent material overlying the flange 34 and received within channels 48, as illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawing, the channels 48 being increased in width over the width of channels 38 for accommodating the transparent panel 46. The panel 46 will not impede light rays emanating from the lamp 20 to the sign 22 on the sloping side Walls 24 and 26 of the body 12.

Many uses of a sign structure such as above set forth will now become apparent. It is possible to provide a primary message on the flat side walls of the main body 10, and to call attention thereto by suitable sign structure on the side walls 2426, the latter being also illuminated by the lamp means within the primary body 10. The inclination transversely of the side walls 24 and 26 is important to the attainment of such new result in that these side walls 2426 are easily seen from almost directly beneath the sign structurewhereas, the primary message on the main body 10 can only be viewed when the pedestrian is many feet away from the sign structure, depending of course, upon its height.

Many additional advantages will emanate from utilization of sign structure such as herein provided and, therefore, it is desired to be limited only by the spirit of the irlivention as defined by the scope of the appended 0 arm.

Having thus described the invention What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

In a combination with sign structure having a hollow, translucent primary body, open at its bottom and provided with illuminating means therewithin, a demountable privilege panel comprising an elongated hollow secondary body of translucent material, open at its top and substantially V-shaped in cross section; a pair of opposed, elongated channel members on the primary body; and an out-turned side flange on the secondary body for each channel member respectively and extending therein, there being a flange on each end respectively of the secondary body, an arcuate end segment forming a part of the primary body at each end thereof respectively, and a plurality of screws joining the end segments to the primary body and to the end flange respectively.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,115,585 Schwab Nov. 3, 1914 1,128,741 Wortley Feb. 16, 1915 1,488,220 Stevens Mar. 25, 1924 1,780,373 Beuttell Nov. 4, 1930 2,239,343 Rumbaugh Apr. 22, 1941 

